Spacers feel at home in the void and many of them are uncomfortable staying for long periods of time on faction holdings. Space and its endless expanse calls them back. As this crazy Early Access period wraps up, we're glad that so many Captains have joined us, heard the call and come aboard to help us improve the game. We've striven to do Early Access in the Trese Brothers way -- true community engagement, constantly being present, and updating like there are more than 10 of us instead of 2. We hope you've enjoyed it and this will be the final update in Early Access mode before Wednesday's launch.
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If you've played our other games, like Templar Battleforce, you'll know that this isn't going to be an end to the updates. We're working on a new Dev Roadmap now that the EA one is nearly complete, and we'll just slide those last few items over onto the new one.
Hunter Missions
Two new focused Bounty Hunter missions have come online with this update -- where contacts assign you death or capture warrants for a fugitive hiding in an urban zone. More of these Edict-requiring types of missions will be coming online over the next series of updates as well to fill out this part of the mission set.
Void Engine and Hyperwarp Drives
As we continue to balance in advance of the carriers/fighters release, we have made adjustments to both the baseline and upgraded Engines and Hyperwarp Drive components to improve diversity. Previously, many of the upgrade engines (Chaser, Longhaul, Traveler) had the same Skill requirements as stats as the baseline in Pilot, Electronics and Ship Ops. This patch has rebalanced those Skill requirements to provide more variety for both the player and the AI to use. The overall net averages within the system have remained the same, while many individual engines have seen stat changes between 1 and 3 points per pool.
Small Ship Void Engines and Hyperwarps also received small survivability bonuses including some additional Armor and Shielding for the higher-end upgrades.
New Starting Contacts
As we continue to fill out the unlockable content, we've added 5 new unlockable starting Contacts. Every one of them provides access to otherwise harder to find recruits as well as a wider array of mission types and services. The Prospector recruits Explorers, the Retired Xeno-Hunter recrutis Exo-Scouts, the Academy Doctor recruits Combat Medics, the Weapons Smuggler recruits Snipers and the Court Assassin recruits Assassins! The five them pack a mighty punch and offer great new options for new games and new templates.
In addition, the new Weapons Smuggler gives Smugglers a boost with the third starting Contact who can offer Black Market access -- it is easier than ever to start with a good foundation for your illegal trading network. And finally, Retired Xeno-Hunter and Court Assassin both sell Combat Armor which is an exciting opportunity for those chasing early game crew combat survivability.
Faction-Specific Rank Ships
We've upgraded the new ship shopping experience to make sure that Faction-specific ships are always visible even when you can't purchase them. In addition, we've updated the rules so that these ships require at least Military Rank 4 in order to access. De Valtos doesn't sell the Corsair Interceptor to just anyone!
Unlock Eligibility
We've had a few questions about whether or not achievements should have fired during different games, so have now updated the Captains Log > Awards screen to include a short note about your eligibility to score an achievement and its unlock. For each one, you can see if your eligible or cannot get the achievement due to time limit, condition or difficulty level.
v2.3.25 - 7/30/2018
- Added 2 new Bounty Hunter mission types -- hunting fugitives among urban zones with capture of death warrant
- Added 5 new unlockable rewards! Starting Contacts: Prospector (recruits Explorers), Academy Doctor (recruits Combat Medics), Court Assassin (recruits Assassins, sells combat armor), Retired Xeno-Hunter (recruits Exo-Scouts, sells combat armor) and Weapons Smuggler (3rd Black Market starter, recruits Snipers)
- Faction specific ships require at least Military Rank 4 to purchase
- Faction-specific ships are now shown in all starports, but can only be purchased at faction's starports
- Improved Captain's Log > Awards screen to indicate if you are eligible for any give unlock (difficulty, date, condition)
- Fixed issue with Trait-based Black Market offers not showing up (Greedy, Corrupt, Underworld Traits)
- If Black Market access is Trait-based and you do not know the Trait (Greedy, Corrupt or Underworld), access is no longer offered
- Addressed issues with some starting ships (Palace Interceptor, Vindex) not having Passenger Cabins
- Added bonus Armor and Deflection to Mass 2400 and 3400 Ship Engines
- Additional statistical diversification of upgrades for Ship Engines, Hyperwarp Drives